1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods of making a guitar pick holder from a flexible magnetic material.
2. Description of the Problem
A guitar is typically played with a xe2x80x9cguitar pickxe2x80x9d, which is used to strike or pluck strings of the guitar. Many guitar players carry a number of guitar picks with them as they are relatively small, easily lost, and inexpensive. However, it is often inconvenient to store or retrieve guitar picks. Guitar picks are typically carried in pants pockets and/or within guitar cases and need to be retrieved when the guitar is played. When a guitar is taken out of its guitar case, for example, a guitar pick must be retrieved from some location. Conversely, when a guitar is placed back in its case, the guitar pick must be stored somewhere. When a guitar player is playing and accidentally drops or intentionally tosses away the guitar pick, it is desirable to be able to quickly retrieve another one.
The appearance of guitars and guitar picks are also important to guitar players, and therefore it is preferable that any method used to hold or carry guitar picks does not detract from how these items look. Furthermore, any guitar pick holding system should be inexpensively made so that it may become commercially available and ubiquitous to a large number of consumers. Promotional techniques are also important in the industry.
In co-pending U.S. patent application entitled xe2x80x9cGuitar Pick Holder Made Of A Flexible Magnetic Bodyxe2x80x9d having U.S. Ser. No. 10/348,056 and a filing date of Jan. 21, 2003, a guitar pick holder made of a flexible magnetic body is described and claimed. The flexible magnetic body has a rear adhering surface for adhering to a surface of a guitar and a front magnetic surface for magnetically holding a guitar pick. The guitar pick for use with the guitar pick holder is made of a synthetic material (e.g. plastic) but also includes a magnetically receptive material (e.g. metal such as iron). The flexible magnetic body is preferably thin, flat, and formed into a decorative shape to provide a visually appealing design for the guitar. A layer of coloring and/or design may be formed over the front magnetic surface. This layer could be printed directly on the front magnetic surface, or alternatively on a layer of paper or vinyl which covers the front magnetic surface. The rear adhering surface is preferably a static cling vinyl surface, but in other embodiments it may be an adhesive surface or a magnetic or metal surface which is magnetically receptive. A removable backing sheet may be provided to cover the rear adhering surface, and removed before the use of the flexible magnetic body. Other details are described therein.
What are needed are methods of making these or similar guitar pick holders from magnetic material for economical large-scale production as well as for small-scale custom production. The subject and claims of the present application are directed to such methods.
Methods of making guitar pick holders from flexible magnetic materials are described and claimed. In one illustrative example, a magnetic side of a flexible magnetic sheet is laminated with a vinyl sheet which provides a coloring and/or design. The side opposite this magnetic side is laminated with a static cling vinyl sheet, after text is reverse-printed on its non-static cling side. Text may also be printed on the vinyl sheet. The laminated flexible magnetic sheet is then die cut to simultaneously form a plurality of guitar pick holders with a predetermined shape. Other methods are described, including methods of making custom individual pick holders.